Scientists warn mankind

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In November 2017, 15,364 scientists signed an eight-author Warning from World's Scientists to Mankind : Second Communication. This calls, among other things, to limit population growth and to drastically reduce our per capita consumption of fossil fuels , meat and other resources. The warning was published in the journal BioScience.

The second communication contains nine time series graphs of key indicators already described in the original 1992 warning, each correlated to a specific concern. This is to show that most environmental aspects tend continuously in the wrong direction with mostly no apparent rate of change. The article lists 13 specific actions that humanity could take on the path to sustainability.

The second notice has the most academic co-signers and formal supporters of any journal article ever published.

The third announcement was also published in the journal BioScience in early November 2019.

history

In late 1992, Henry Way Kendall , a former chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), penned the world's first " Warning to Mankind," which begins with the words: Humans and the natural world are on a collision course. "A majority of the Nobel Prize winners in Science signed the document, and some 1,700 of the world's leading scientists added their signatures.

The second warning was sometimes mentioned in contrast to the "Heidelberg Appeal" previously published in 1992, which was also signed by numerous scientists and Nobel Prize winners, starting with criticism of "an irrational ideology that hinders scientific and industrial progress and economic and social development difficult ". This document has been and is often quoted by those who deny man-made climate change .

The Heidelberg appeal contains no specific recommendations and is not an indictment of the environmental sciences : "We fully subscribe to the goals of a scientific ecology for a universe whose resources must be accounted for, monitored and preserved. But we hereby request that this evaluation, monitoring and preservation be carried out must be based on scientific criteria and not on irrational prejudices. "

In contrast, the UCS-led petition contains specific recommendations: "We must move away from fossil fuels , for example , towards harmless, inexhaustible sources of energy , in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air and water pollution . ... We must Stabilize the population. "

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William J. Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Thomas M. Newsome, Mauro Galetti, Mohammed Alamgir: World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice . In: BioScience . tape 67 , no. 12 , December 1, 2017, ISSN  0006-3568 , p. 1026-1028 , doi : 10.1093 / biosci / bix125 ( oup.com [accessed April 15, 2019]).
  2. ^ Suzuki, David: 15,000 Scientists Issue Urgent Warning: Humanity Is Failing to Safeguard the Planet . AlterNet, January 15, 2018.
  3. ^ William J. Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Thomas M. Newsome, Phoebe Barnard, William R. Moomaw: World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency . In: BioScience . doi : 10.1093 / biosci / biz088 ( oup.com [accessed November 6, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Scientists declare "climate emergency". Deutschlandfunk Nova, November 5, 2019, accessed on November 6, 2019 .
  5. ↑ More than 11,000 scientists declare a "climate emergency". Süddeutsche Zeitung, November 5, 2019, accessed on November 6, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Text File Containing the Warning and a list of selected Signatories. stanford.edu, accessed August 26, 2011 .
  7. ^ Ron Kaufman: Rio Document Spurs Debate: Is Science An Ecological Foe? The Scientist, July 20, 1992, accessed November 6, 2019 .